


Hunger

by PuzzleDragon



Category: L.A. By Night (Web Series), Vampire: The Masquerade
Genre: (seriously just a whole LOT of kissing), Blood Drinking, Communication, Enthusiastic Consent, F/M, Intimacy, Kissing, Non-Explicit Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:55:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22105933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuzzleDragon/pseuds/PuzzleDragon
Summary: Jasper and Eva explore a new way for him to feed, one that works for both of them. They figure out the details along the way.(A series of vignettes featuring Jasper and Eva experimenting with different methods of blood drinking. Set after the end of season three, written before the start of season four.)
Relationships: Eva/Jasper (L.A. By Night)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39





	Hunger

**Author's Note:**

> "This'll only be like 5k at most," I said, months ago, like a liar. Now here we are almost 10,000 words of feeding fic later, because apparently that's just what I write now. So, please enjoy the results of me missing these cute vampire nerds a whole lot as we all wait for season four.
> 
> As an actual note, Annabelle only makes an appearance in the third vignette, and Nelli and Victor are also mentioned in certain scenes but neither has any dialogue. This is rated M mainly for the final scene—I don't think it's anything _super_ explicit but, ya know, blush of life is a thing and you should read at your own discretion—everything else up to that point is reasonably within the range of mid to high T. Enjoy!

i. wrist

“Are you sure about this?” Jasper asks, “Because I… I wouldn’t want to do this unless you were sure.”

They sit side by side on his couch, as Eva plays with his hands. They’ve talked about this idea before, but have never actually done it. She brought up the concept shortly after their run-in with Katya and they’ve been discussing the possibility ever since.

“I’m very sure, Jasper. I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t sure.”

He watches her, so still and so steady, not a hint of doubt in her eyes. The only thing that moves is her fingers as they trace aimless patterns across the backs of his hands.

“Do you have your knives?” he finally asks.

Eva’s hands freeze. She blinks and furrows her brow.

“What?” she responds.

“Your knives… your silver daggers. Do you… have one?”

He sees the meaning of his words finally click and her grip tightens on his hand.

“Jasper, I’m not going to—”

“You have to. I’m willing to try this, I—I want to do this. You’re right… You’re always right. But if we’re going to try your ‘better alternative,’ we need some precautions in place. I need to know you’re going to be alright on the other side of this.”

“Jasper, I don’t want to stab you.”

“I can’t risk hurting you.”

“You wouldn’t hurt me.”

“My Beast might.”

“I trust you.”

“I don’t trust me.”

They stare at each other for a long minute, the silence stretching out between them before Eva finally lets go of his hands. For just a moment, Jasper is afraid she’ll pull away from him completely, but she does not rise from the couch, does not slip away. Instead, she pulls out one of her ceremonial daggers—bright silver between her bone white fingers—and holds it delicately in one hand.

“Okay. Okay, thank you,” Jasper says, closing his hand around hers, both of them gripping the knife between them. “And if you think, even for a second, that I’m taking too much—going too far—you push me off, okay? I need you to do that for me.”

“I don’t want to hurt you, Jasper.”

“It’s fine, I get hurt all the time,” he says with a slight hollow laugh, trying to put her at ease, “And I’ve had worse—if it gets to that point—I can heal. Okay?”

“Alright,” she finally concedes as he releases her hand from his tight grip.

“So… how do we… What do you want me to do?”

His hesitation makes Eva smile despite the heavy weight in the air. Even now—even with this—he is still so self-conscious, still so unsure. 

“You’re not a fledgling, Jasper,” she says, a teasing lilt sneaking its way into her tone, “I assumed you knew how to feed.”

“I do! I do,” he scrambles to find the right words, making her laugh, “I just… I want to do this right. I don’t want to do anything you’re uncomfortable with, even by accident. I’ve never… fed from someone willing before.”

“And I’ve never—” Eva pauses. _Never_ isn’t exactly true, and while they both keep their own secrets, she tries her best not to lie to him. “Well, at least... it’s been a long time since someone fed on me. We’re both… new to this arrangement. We’ll figure it out as we go.” 

“Okay.”

Jasper doesn’t press her, doesn’t ask who else she’s fed in all her long years on this Earth. Perhaps he knows or perhaps he simply doesn’t want to, but Eva is grateful regardless. She doesn’t want him comparing himself to her past.

He doesn’t move to bite her, either, though.

“But if you’d like some direction…” she prompts gently.

“Please,” he answers, just a little too quickly.

“We’ll start with the wrist,” she says, rolling up her sleeve and offering him her free hand.

Jasper curls both his hands around her forearm, cradling it as he lifts it to his mouth at a painfully slow pace, giving Eva ample opportunity to change her mind. But she doesn’t pull away, doesn’t even flinch. Before now, he’s never really cared about treating his prey with any sort of delicacy. They were monsters like him—worse than him if he could manage it—but Eva is precious. She deserves whatever scrap of gentleness he can dig up from within his ruined chest. He’s seen other Kindred feed like this—the way Annabelle always asks for permission, the way Eva thanked Bailey after she drank from his wrist—and does his best to mimic their movements. He even tries to maintain eye contact with her, despite how frighteningly intimate it feels.

He presses a kiss to her fingers, to her palm, to the inside of her wrist—hears her take in a quick, sharp breath as his lips ghost across her sensitive skin—before he sinks his fangs into her.

Eva sighs as the Kiss sweeps through her. Her eyes drift closed and her head lolls back against the couch cushions. This feels _good_ , far better than when Jasper was in Torpor. Then, she had to force her blood to rise, to well up and drip into his mouth. It was slow and painful, a desperate attempt to wake and calm him—but _this_? This is bliss.

It’s been decades since Eva was last fed on, but she remembers the feeling of it well. In this, as in all things, Katya was always confident and coy. The Kiss was another way to bring her little sparrow a bit of pleasure during those few short nights before her Embrace. Eva remembers the warm summer air, the rain on her skin, the tight press of bodies, the sharp sting of Katya’s fangs. It felt good then, too, but this is different. Katya viewed feeding as just another form of teasing, a way of claiming what was hers. She was not hesitant or gentle, the way Jasper is now.

Evangeline loved the dangerous thrill of it all back then, but Eva much prefers having a soft place to land.

Jasper refuses to lose himself in the feeling of this, refuses to let his guard down and allow his Beast to have its way with Eva. But that’s no easy task. As soon as his fangs sink in, she overwhelms his senses. The intoxicating scent of her vitae is tinged with a complex floral bouquet. He couldn’t identify all the individual flowers at the best of times and at the moment, he’s a little too distracted to try. 

The taste is sweet as it flows across his tongue. And mixed in with the delicious sweetness is the strength of her magic, that tempting undercurrent of power. He’s drawn to that crackling whisper of lightning that runs through her blood like a moth desperate to burn in her fire.

The rest is more complicated: she tastes willing, she tastes unafraid, she tastes happy, she tastes like eager anticipation and unbridled affection directed only at him.

Jasper tries to hold himself back, tries to enjoy this gift quietly and politely—he doesn’t want to go too far and scare her away—but when she curls her fingers to trail her nails along his jawline, he groans against her wrist.

Eva gasps at the sound, quietly moaning his name in response. It’s barely more than a whisper in the otherwise silent space, but it’s her voice that pulls him back from the single-minded focus of feeding. Jasper flexes his jaw and retracts his fangs from her flesh. She still sits beside him, her body now turned to face his and her head still resting against the back cushions of the couch.

“You okay?” he asks, hesitant and unsure.

She smiles and it eases some of his fear.

“I’m fine,” she tells him, “but you’re not done yet.”

“What?”

Eva flexes her wrist where it still rests in his hand, reminding him of the open wound he’s left behind.

“Oh. Right.” Jasper lifts her wrist back up to his mouth and licks the bite mark closed with a quick swipe of his tongue. Her skin knits back together neatly and she scratches lightly at his jawline again without removing her hand from his. It’s such a small, simple touch but he likes it more than he can say. His eyes drift closed and he leans into her palm to return her affections.

“There,” Eva says, as their joined hands lower back into the space between them on the couch, “Now I’m all better.”

“Are you… hungry… now? Do you need anything?”

Eva shakes her head, her Beast had stayed quiet throughout the experience, allowing her to relax into the pull of the Kiss. “No. Not this time. I’m fine.”

“Okay… okay...” Jasper trails off as he stares down at their hands.

“Are you… alright?” she asks. 

“Oh, yeah,” he fumbles for the right words, his voice catching on a growl, “I… That was…”

“Good?” Eva prompts.

“Great… for me. How—how are you?”

Eva can’t help herself, she laughs. Jasper is seemingly made of distilled nervous energy with nowhere to go and she finds it so painfully endearing. Before he has time to overthink her laughter, though, she pulls him down into a kiss. It is quick and unpracticed and she’s smiling too much to do it properly. They’re at an odd angle and he never knows where to put his hands at first when she surprises him like this, but he kisses her back all the same.

Eva pulls back and cups his face with the hand that isn’t still carefully holding her unused dagger in her lap, away from his chest. One of his hands finally settles on her hip and she smiles.

“To be clear,” she says, “That felt… incredible. And I would be more than willing to do it again sometime… if you’re interested?”

There’s a hopeful look in her eyes that surprises Jasper. Feeding off of her had been her idea, of course, but he’d thought it was simply because she didn’t approve of his other feeding habits and wanted to help him. It was a selfless giving of her own blood to free him from the vicious cycle of his self-appointed hunt. He hadn’t expected her to be so eager to offer herself up again, to act as though she’d enjoyed this as much as he did.

“I—I would… be interested, but…”

“But what?”

“I don’t want you to feel… obligated. I—I don’t want to hurt you,” Jasper says, echoing his earlier concerns. Her being willing to endure the bite and him wanting to inflict it on her are two very different things, after all.

“You won’t,” she tells him, repeating her earlier reassurances with total conviction, “I trust you.”

To reinforce her point, Eva reaches across him to place her silver dagger on the end table next to the couch. The maneuver leaves her pressed close to Jasper’s chest, with one knee between his long legs, as she relinquishes her hold on the ceremonial knife. Her now free hands roam absently across the soft fabric of his hoodie. The Kiss left her wanting to be close to him, wanting to prolong the intimacy of the bite with another kiss. Perhaps she can even tempt him into taking off his sweatshirt for the rest of the night. She’d like to see him without so much in the way. But instead of matching her flirtatious smile, he furrows his brow.

“But didn’t it hurt? When I bit you?” Jasper asks, the confusion written plainly across his face.

“Just for a second, like it always does.” Eva stills one hand over his heart as the other returns to his gray cheek, her thumb moving in soothing circles against his cold skin. “The bite itself stung a little, but after that… it just felt good.”

When he stares back at her, silent and disbelieving, Eva suddenly realizes: he’s never fed on someone willing before; he’s never fed on someone inclined to tell him how it felt, how it _could_ feel; he’s never known feeding as anything other than a form of taking, an experience steeped in pain and fear and violent hunger. 

He wasn’t just worried about losing control and taking too much of her vitae in a frenzy. He genuinely thought hurting her was an inevitable, unavoidable fact.

“Oh, Jasper,” she breathes, her voice low and tinged with sadness as her hand on his cheek falls back down to his chest, “The Kiss is pleasurable for the one being fed upon, not just the one feeding.”

Jasper blinks at her—once, twice—trying to process her words. And then he surges forward, grabbing Eva’s face between his hands and kissing her hard. A surprised squeak gets caught in her throat, but before she can even really return the kiss, he pulls away. He lets go of her face, his hands hovering in the air for a moment before dropping down to her shoulders. His wide blue eyes stare back at her as if surprised by his own boldness.

If his heart could still beat, it would be pounding, hammering against his rib cage in a frantic rhythm that would leave him breathing hard as he held the body of a beautiful woman who has just shattered his entire worldview. But his heart doesn’t beat, his pulse doesn’t quicken, and his lungs stay resolutely still as he stares at Eva. 

“Sorry, I—sorry,” he finally says.

“You don’t have to apologize for kissing me, Jasper.”

“I just… I—I didn’t know. I didn’t know you could… enjoy it.”

“But you’ve seen others feed, haven’t you?” Eva asks, a crease forming between her eyebrows as she studies him, “That night we first went to the hacienda, we both walked in on Nelli feeding. It seemed like her companion was… quite happy with that arrangement, didn’t it?”

He doesn’t like to think of the way Nelli feeds. For one, it’s _Nelli_ , and even the mere mention of her and Victor and Fairbanks makes him shudder. But even setting aside all of that, being in the room while she eats always feels invasive to Jasper, like he’s seeing something he shouldn’t. But Eva’s right, Nelli’s… partners always seem enthusiastic when she drinks from them.

“Yeah, but… Nelli’s a Toreador,” he finally manages.

“Yes, and you’re a Nosferatu who just made me feel absolutely incredible,” she tells him firmly, “Couldn’t you taste how you made me feel?”

He had—the bright, delicious joy in her veins was hard to miss—but with a sample size of exactly one, he didn’t have much data to go on about what that taste actually meant.

“I didn’t… want to assume anything.”

“Then don’t,” Eva says, readjusting herself on the couch to settle more squarely in his lap. She cups his face in both her hands. “I’m sure you tasted how willing I was, how much I wanted this... how much I want you. How happy I was to have your mouth on me like that. And even if you didn’t… I’m telling you now. There is no need to doubt if this is an equal exchange, Jasper.”

Jasper nods wordlessly. She leans in to capture his mouth with hers. He’s more prepared this time and his hands settle on her hips much quicker as he presses up into her. When she pulls away, he tries to chase after her, letting out a soft growl at the loss of contact. Eva quiets him with the tips of her fingers pressed against his lips and a light laugh. 

“I enjoyed feeding you, Jasper,” she tells him, moving her hand away from his mouth and down to his neck, “Very much so. And if you’d be interested in doing it again...”

“You’d be willing?”

“More than willing. I want to keep doing this. Do you?”

He looks at her—her bright blue eyes rimmed in red, her sharp fangs exposed as she smiles, the pale pink of her lips smudged from kissing—and realizes just how much he wants this. This isn’t just a “better alternative,” this isn’t just a more ethical choice—it’s something he desperately wants to share with her.

“Y-yeah,” he whispers. His voice almost catches in his throat, unfamiliar as he is with voicing desires like this.

“Yes?” Eva asks, wanting to make sure.

“Yes.” His grip tightens on her hips and he nods. For once, he’s very sure of what he wants.

“Good.” 

And then she’s kissing him again. He pulls her close, his hands moving from her waist to her hips to her back, trying to touch all of her, unable to stay still. One of her hands sneaks under his hood to scratch at the nape of his neck and her fangs graze his bottom lip without drawing blood. He growls against her and she sighs in return, a seamless push and pull between them. There is no need to breathe, no worry of legs falling asleep, no reason to stop for a long time. They kiss until dawn threatens to break over the distant horizon, until they feel that innate pull toward sleep. Then they climb into bed, still tangled up in each other.

ii. shoulder

Eva is perusing one of the bookshelves in his library—trying to hunt down a particular Sumerian text she’s sure was on this exact shelf the last time she was here—when Jasper suddenly appears behind her to wrap his arms around her waist.

She knew he was in the room with her—they’ve been reading together in companionable silence for the past few hours—but he’s very good at sneaking up on people. And as good as she’s gotten at recognizing the shifts in energy that surround him when he’s obfuscated, he still finds ways to surprise her.

The unexpected closeness startles her and she gasps, before the familiar scent of his hoodie sets her mind at ease and she settles back against his chest. Jasper is at least a foot taller than her and he rests his chin on top of her head, scanning the shelf in front of her. 

“What’re you looking for?” he asks casually.

“A book,” Eva answers, a smirk playing at her lips.

“Well, I’ve got quite a few of those.”

She laughs and rolls her eyes and tilts her head back, trying to catch a glimpse of his face, but as she arches her neck, he moves almost faster than her eyes can follow. He buries his face in the crook of her neck, nuzzling against her despite the wide lace choker in his way, and she giggles.

To reach that spot from this position he has to all but loom over her, curving his back in a steep arch to bring his mouth down to the level of her neck. She reaches up to scratch at the back of his head and he lets out a low noise that’s closer to a purr than a growl.

“Are you hungry?” she asks, her tone playful and teasing.

“Maybe a little,” he answers, brushing his nose across the enticing expanse of skin that her open neckline reveals.

“Then go ahead.”

Jasper pulls back from her throat and she turns her head to look him in the eye. 

“Are you sure?” He has to know. This aspect of their relationship is still so new, he doesn’t want to screw it up by pushing her to give more than she’s comfortable.

Eva’s gentle smile calms his racing mind. She nods, trailing her fingers across his arms where they’re wrapped snugly around her waist. 

“Yes,” she says softly, all teasing gone from her tone, “Go ahead.”

He nods in return, matching her smile. He lowers his mouth back down and presses his lips to the edge of her jaw, just below her ear. He trails kisses across her neck, each one a little more insistent than the last, skipping over the area hidden by her necklace, until he reaches the curve where her neck meets her shoulder. There, he opens his mouth, baring his sharp fangs before sinking them into her. 

Eva sighs as the ecstasy of the Kiss washes over her and her head falls back against his shoulder. His grip around her waist tightens and she crosses her arms over his to return the embrace. But trying to press her body against his the way she desperately wants to leaves her arching her spine at an odd angle. She can feel the low hum of him in her veins and the bite itself still feels as wonderful as ever, but it doesn’t feel comfortable the way it has in the past. She can’t collapse into it—into _him_ —the way she wants to.

She tastes incredible. She always does. And while there is something darkly enticing about looming over her like this, about enveloping her as she sighs—soft and breathy in his arms—Jasper hates the way he has to slouch and hunch himself down to reach her. He wants to feel her eager shallow breaths—a human reflex that always seems to return in these moments—against his cold skin, wants to feel her body pressed against his. He can’t pull her close without forcing her to bend over to match his posture, so an odd emptiness remains in the space between them.

He wants to make this good for her, but he can’t keep this position up for long. He drinks quickly, pulling away sooner than he usually does. His grip loosens and he licks her wounds closed without fanfare.

“You doing okay?” Jasper asks, turning her in his arms so she’s finally facing him.

Eva nods half-heartedly, her eyes still half-closed. Being fed upon is pleasurable—as she likes to remind him regularly—but sometimes it can still take a lot out of her. Her body loves the Kiss—his mouth on her, that closeness, that sense of giving and all he gives her in return—but her Beast doesn’t always agree. Now, even as the lingering feeling of the bite fades, her Beast rises to whisper in the back of her mind, making its disapproval over the loss of vitae abundantly clear. That internal contradiction between her heart and her hunger leaves her feeling wrung out after the uncomfortable position she was stuck in.

“You need something to drink?” Jasper asks.

She nods again. Jasper guides her to the sofa before fetching some bagged blood from the mini fridge he’s started keeping stocked for when she spends time in his haven. She usually feeds before coming over and the ley lines’ helpful side effect of suppressing his hunger seems to affect her as well when she spends time in his sanctum, but sometimes feeding him leaves her hungry in return.

Jasper’s seen her prepare her own meals enough times that he can mimic the steps well enough. He empties a plasma bag into Eva’s mug—one with pink flowers on it that always makes him smile when he sees it left behind on the desk in his library—and carefully places it in the microwave that’s perched on top of the mini fridge. He knows this isn’t perfect—in her own haven, she heats blood in a kettle on an electric hot plate; and he knows she prefers it that way, knows the temperature and consistency aren’t quite the same when he heats it like this—but he’s learning and Eva seems to appreciate the effort. He returns to the couch a moment later with her mug in his hands. 

Eva takes it with a grateful smile and drinks the thick warm liquid down. It’s pure—clean and unaltered by any substances—but it’s hot and fresh enough to make her Beast relent for a little while. That smooth condescending voice fades from her mind as her Beast stops pacing in her chest and curls up again behind the bars of her rib cage.

Jasper waits for her to drink all of it before he speaks.

“How… how was that? For you?” he asks, falling into their pattern of post-feeding check-ins despite the lingering awkwardness he still feels in his bones.

Eva leans against his shoulder before answering, smiling to herself when he instinctively drapes his arm around her without a hint of hesitation.

“I’ve told you before, Jasper—it always feels good.” 

He relaxes a bit more, always relieved to hear he hasn’t hurt her.

“But if I’m being honest...” His hand tenses on her arm, waiting anxiously for her next words. “I like being able to touch you when you feed. But I couldn’t reach much more than your arms when you were standing behind me like that. I like being able to see you, too. It’s reassuring. And as good as the Kiss itself felt tonight, it wasn’t… comfortable. I like when this feels… normal.”

“I feel the same. I don’t like feeling like you’re… prey,” Jasper winces at the word, “I like when you have more control over things.”

“Okay,” she nods as she speaks, “That’s good to know. We’ll keep that in mind for next time. We’re figuring things out together, after all, right?”

Jasper nods but says nothing for a long moment.

“Hey,” Eva says softly, breaking the silence with practiced care as she looks up at him, “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“I’m just… I’m sorry. For making you uncomfortable.” He can’t bring himself to look at her.

“There is nothing to apologize for, Jasper.” She cups his cheek to turn his face back toward her, making sure he looks her in the eyes as she tells him this. “You didn’t _make me_ uncomfortable. We tried something new and it just didn’t work for either of us. It happens. I’m the one who asked if you were hungry. I’m the one who told you to bite me. I agreed to this, I asked for this, I… I want this. And I’m not going to stop wanting it just because one experience was less than perfect. You didn’t hurt me, you didn’t upset me, you didn’t do anything I didn’t want you to. I’m fine and we’re good. Alright?”

He nods and presses a kiss to the palm of her hand where it rests against the corner of his mouth.

“Okay,” he mumbles, “I just… I don’t… I don’t want to screw this up.”

“You won’t,” Eva tells him, stroking his cheek with her thumb, “And this is why we talk afterward… to make sure we’re both still comfortable. And right now...” She trails her hand down to rest over his heart and snuggles in even closer to his side. “I am very, very comfortable. Are you?”

“Yeah,” he answers with a soft smile, “As long as you’re okay, I’m good.”

Jasper’s arm tightens around her and he presses a kiss to her hair. Eva tucks her legs up underneath herself and curls into him, resting her head against his chest.

“Want me to read to you for a while?” Jasper asks, stroking her arm.

“I’d love that.”

Jasper takes her empty mug from her hand that isn’t absentmindedly tracing patterns across his chest and places it on an end table next to a stack of books. He plucks a novel off the top of the pile. It’s one they’ve both read before, but they’ve been rereading it together for a few weeks now, whenever they’re not too busy doing research for Victor or navigating politics with the coterie or doing their best not to get killed in this godforsaken city. As Jasper begins reading aloud from the well-worn pages of the paperback, his voice rising and falling in a soothing rhythm, they both settle back into the comfort of the shared story and the increasingly familiar feeling of their bodies cuddled close together. 

iii. bottled

Victor tells everyone to feed before they head out for the night and for once, Jasper actually can. While Nelli’s making her selection from a lineup of Maharani staff and Annabelle’s asking for a volunteer, Jasper rummages around in his bag until his hand closes around what he’s looking for. 

It’s nothing, really, just a matter of convenience. Just something to make sure he can resist frenzy when he’s away from Eva for a few busy nights. A practical step in their new arrangement. But even that logic can’t stop it from feeling like the latest in a long line of priceless gifts she’s given him since they met. To the untrained eye, it would just look like any ordinary thermos: brushed steel and black plastic fashioned together in an unremarkable design. The series of warding runes Eva drew on it earlier in the week are invisible now, their magic long since absorbed into the metal, protecting what’s inside.

Jasper carefully unscrews the cap and breathes in the familiar scent of her—flowers and magic, iron and lightning—and can’t help the small smile that spreads across his face. He’s halfway through the contents of the thermos—drinking slow to savor the taste, even if it’s not as deliciously fresh as drinking straight from her wrist or neck—when Annabelle bounds up out of nowhere.

“What’s that?” she asks, all eager curiosity. Jasper isn’t used to being snuck up on, but Eva has always been the best kind of distraction. Annabelle's sudden appearance startles him enough to actually make him flinch, but he’s still careful not to spill any of the precious vitae.

“It’s my… dinner,” Jasper grumbles, choosing his words carefully.

It’s not that he’s keeping his arrangement with Eva a secret from the coterie, not exactly, it just hasn’t come up yet. And he’s not in the habit of handing out the details of his personal life when no one’s bothered to ask for them.

“Since when do you bring your meals with you to the club?” Annabelle asks, as blunt as ever.

“Since my… feeding situation changed, a bit,” he answers, “Besides I didn’t prepare it myself. Eva did.”

It’s more than Jasper would normally like to reveal, but he figures it’s safer than letting Annabelle—of all people—think he’s been draining prisoners in his dungeons to take a tasty snack to work.

“Oh my god, your girlfriend packed your dinner for you? That’s _so cute_!” Annabelle’s voice rises in pitch as she speaks, overcome by the apparent adorableness of this concept, and Jasper sighs to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “So what is it, exactly? Some sort of magic witchy potion thing?”

As she speaks, Annabelle moves to take the thermos from his hands to inspect the contents. In a flash, Jasper grabs her wrist—unafraid of touching her jacket now that Eva’s gone to the trouble of exempted the rest of the coterie from that particular Cainite ward to prevent friendly fire—stopping her in place as he holds the thermos as far out of her reach as he can manage.

“Don’t,” he snaps at her, more defensive than he intends, “It’s warded, it’ll burn you.”

“Eva put an anti-vampire ward on your lunch box?” Annabelle asks, increasingly shocked by each new detail he gives her.

“Yeah, well, she’s really protective of her blood.”

Jasper says it without thinking and immediately regrets it. He lets go of Annabelle's wrist but she does not move to take the thermos again. Instead, he watches with resignation as her eyes go wide as his answer sinks in.

“Wait, wait,” she says in a rush, trying to work through her thoughts, “When you say ‘her blood’ do you mean like, her supply of blood that she feeds on, like you raided her fridge? Or do you mean her blood as in like _her_ blood?”

“That second one,” Jasper grits out, the words ending in a snarl. This really isn’t how he thought he’d have to explain this situation to the coterie. He thought he’d have at least a couple more weeks of keeping it private before someone pried a little too far and forced him to reveal the truth. But if he has to tell anyone first, at least it’s the one Kindred who's too young to have any preconceived judgments about what he and Eva are doing.

“Sooooo,” Annabelle starts, drawing out the word into at least two extra syllables, “Is that like… a thing people do?”

Of all the questions Jasper had expected from her, that wasn’t one of them.

“What?” 

“Ya know, like, when _Kindred_ start dating, do they usually drink each other’s blood? Or is it less of a weird vampire courting ritual thing and more of just like a personal kink for you guys? Is she drinking your blood now, too? Is that a thing? Do you have matching thermoses? Wait, are you two _bonded_ now? Did Eva use a magic thermos to _blood bond you_?”

Jasper’s head spins as he tries to keep up with her rapid fire stream of questions. This is why he never tells people about his personal life.

“No to… all of the above,” Jasper finally says, “And before you ask, I’m not blood bound to Eva, because she can… choose not to do that.”

“I should ask her to teach me that trick. Might come in handy with Mark.”

“Not sure it’s something she can teach.” 

“Okay, fair enough.” Annabelle finally seems to be returning to her normal level of calm—which, admittedly, isn’t all that calm, but it’s definitely better than her interrogating him about the details of his love life. “I mean, as long as she’s alright with you feeding on her, knock yourselves out, right?”

Jasper can’t help but let out a dry laugh at that, remembering all the ways Eva has shown him just how much she enjoys being bitten by him.

“More than alright,” Jasper says, revealing his sharp fangs as he smiles, “She seems… quite happy with the arrangement.”

“Okay then, don’t need any more information on _that_ front,” Annabelle responds, “Treat her right, come to me if you need any advice, and don’t use too much tongue unless she asks you to. 'Kay?”

With that, Annabelle bounds away, leaving Jasper rolling his eyes alone with what remains of his meal. When he finishes drinking what’s left in the thermos—intoxicatingly sweet and still warm—he pulls out his phone and heads toward the parking garage.

_Thanks for the meal tonight. Remind me to make it up to you later. ;)_

Jasper debates the emoji for a good ten minutes of grumbled contemplation before finally working up the courage to press send. He hopes it makes her smile when she reads it, hopes she holds him to that promise, hopes she’ll be waiting for him when he gets home so he doesn’t have to wait until tomorrow night to show her the extent of his gratitude. He wonders if he can leave her gasping and moaning without ever breaking skin, if he can make her feel as wonderful as the Kiss with just his lips and hands. She brings it out in him—that desire, that craving for her touch, that flirtatious teasing that he thought died with the rest of his body five years ago. Eva makes it all feel right and real again.

Later, in the back of the SUV, Jasper's phone buzzes in his pocket. It’s from Eva. As he reads her short reply in the glow of the streetlights that pass overhead, he can’t help but smile to himself:

_Looking forward to it. <3 _

iv. neck

Eva doesn’t usually come to the Maharani when it’s in operation. She usually walks in when the main lights are dark and the dance floor is empty. But tonight, Nelli insists on her attendance at the club and refuses to take any polite form of “no” for an answer. Even without using her powers of influence, Nelli can be quite persuasive.

And that’s how Eva ends up on the edge of the dance floor while it’s still packed with humans.

Jasper watches her from the secret passageways, like he promised her he would. She feels safer knowing he’s looking out for her, even when she can't see him. Eva stands out in a crowd, but she can blend in better than him. And on a night like this and with a touch of clever makeup from Nelli, her curse just looks like an aesthetic to the mortals that swirl around her. As Jasper tracks the seemingly carefree blur of white that is his girlfriend, he sees her move through the crowded space without too many lingering stares following in her wake. 

Despite her initial hesitancy about attending, Eva dances without fear. She seems so reserved most of the time that sometimes Jasper forgets she went to Woodstock. The others forget, too. Nelli and Annabelle laugh joyously on either side of Eva as they watch her move freely along with the beat. Her arms are thrown over her head, her hips swaying in time. She floats in a gentle haze, light on her feet as she moves at the edges of the crowd, unwilling to move farther into the press of warm bodies but unable to break away completely.

Jasper can’t help but smile as he watches her.

But as the night wears on and the beat rises and falls, he somehow loses track of Eva between the flashes of the strobe lights. He forces himself not to panic, even as memories of Aurora and Rodrigo leap unbidden to his mind. He catches sight of Annabelle and Nelli, still moving with the crowd, and tries to take comfort in their unworried expressions. They wouldn’t be so calm if something bad had happened. Eva’s capable, he reminds himself, she’s extremely powerful, and no one would be able to just grab her with so many people around. She wouldn’t wander off. But even that logic can’t fully calm his nerves. He’s scanning the crowd again—trying to spot some flash of white skirts or pale skin—when his phone buzzes in his pocket.

It’s a message from Eva that simply reads, _I want to see you_.

He lets out a sigh of relief—a reflex from a time long past—and shoots back a quick response. 

_Dark corner to the right of the bar._

He doesn’t have to wait long before he hears one of the nearby secret doorways open. Even in the dim safety lighting, he can see Eva’s pale form out of the corner of his eye as she enters the passageway and creeps up beside him.

While he would have appreciated a bit more warning, he’d expected her to join him in hiding before the night was over. As much as Eva enjoys music and dancing and occasionally misses the kind of communal joy that only comes from connecting with strangers over a shared song, the long years have made her rather introverted. She likes being away from the noise and the crowds and the feeling of being out in the open after a while, likes being alone—with the exception of him—at the end of a long night.

“Been enjoying the view?” she asks, smirking up at him.

“When it’s of you? Always.”

She smiles and goes up on her tiptoes to kiss him. He responds in kind, pulling her close and kissing her in return.

Nelli designed Eva’s dress for the night and as much as Jasper doesn’t like to thank Nelli for anything, he might just have to make an exception for this. It’s all white lace and flowing silhouettes with an empire waist and long flared sleeves that display intricate floral patterns when Eva raises her arms to drape them around his neck. It fits her style well, but the skirt is so much shorter than what she usually wears. It ends barely more than halfway down her thighs and Jasper can’t help but let his hands wander lower as he kisses her.

Eva pulls at the front of his hoodie, stepping backwards as she does. He follows her lead and backs her into the wall, pressing her against it. She tips her head back to keep kissing him despite their height difference, but the angle is uncomfortable for both of them, so Jasper reaches down to hook his hands behind her knees and pull her up to meet him.

Jasper is inhumanly strong and her slight frame is so light in his arms. Eva laughs—bright and delighted—as he hauls her up and she instinctively wraps her legs around his waist, freeing up his hands to roam across all her beautiful, soft skin without fear of dropping her.

He’s running his hands along her thighs under her dress and pressing open-mouthed kisses to her neck when Eva asks, “Are you hungry?”

It takes every scrap of humanity left in him not to sink his fangs into her immediately.

He groans against her neck, his grip tightening on her legs.

“You like that idea, don’t you?” she asks with a smirk, laughing again and trailing her nails along the back of his head, “You want to make me feel good, Jasper?” 

That’s when Jasper catches the hazy lilt in her voice. He’s gotten good at recognizing the signs of when she’s high. She always tells him now—open and honest communication is essential, especially now that feeding has become a regular part of their relationship—but he’s gotten so familiar with her tone and her mannerisms that he usually knows before she says it. When she’s intoxicated, she gets dreamy and bubbly and light. She talks a little faster, speaks more openly about certain things. She floats. She gets even more playful, even more giggly, even more tactile. She plays with his hands more than usual.

And sometimes, like now, being high makes Eva want him even more.

“Are you—did you take something tonight?” Jasper asks, just to be sure, just so they can have this conversation with all their cards on the table. He forces himself to pull away from her neck, so he can look her in the eye as he speaks. He wants nothing more than to bite her—to make her feel good and to feel good in return—but this only works if they communicate with each other. 

Eva nods, her eyes half-lidded as she smiles at him.

“But nothing too strong,” she adds, “Nothing you haven’t tasted on me before.”

“And you _want_ me to bite you?”

“Yes.” She draws out the word and the slight whine in her voice makes him growl low in the back of his throat. “Make me feel good, Jasper.”

That’s all it takes to convince him. He lowers his mouth back down to her neck, kisses her once, twice, a third time. Each one makes her laugh, makes her squirm against him. She’s eager and laughing in his arms when he finally sinks his fangs into her neck. 

She tastes incredible. He tastes the magic in her, the power and the joy and the lust. He tastes the drugs, too. She’s right, it’s something he’s had from her before, though he can’t place exactly what. The scent of flowers, the scent of _her_ , overwhelms him as he feeds and soon he’s floating with her.

The drugs aren’t as intense for him. It’s a secondhand high, filtered through both Eva’s blood and whatever mortal she fed from earlier tonight. But it’s still there, still good, still a deliciously distracting feeling that tingles through his veins.

Eva’s head falls back against the wall and she moans, the pleasure of the drugs in her veins heightened by the ecstasy of the Kiss. She tightens her legs around Jasper's waist, pulling their bodies even closer together. Jasper flexes his hands against her thighs, gripping her more tightly and sending another shiver of pleasure through her. He growls against her—all want, all desire—and in her haze, she can feel it rumble through her veins.

She moves against him, rolling her hips against his, a muscle memory of past indulgence. She forgets for a moment, in her dreamy state of mind, that she can’t get off like this. Not without activating blush of life—and the wonderful, ridiculous, reckless idea of being briefly and suddenly human right now with his fangs in her neck and that delicious heat between her legs passes through her mind. 

Eva gasps as another jolt of pleasure radiates through her entire body from the twin points in her neck. The feeling drags her back to the present and any thought of blush of life escapes her as she focuses in on the ecstasy of this moment. 

Jasper drinks slow, wanting to prolong her pleasure for as long as possible without taking too much. He could’ve gone a few more hours without feeding. He might have even lasted until tomorrow evening—he’s not _that_ hungry—but he wants to make her feel good for as long as she’ll let him. Jasper won’t rush her through this.

His Beast, on the other hand, demands speed even before he bites—wants to take her fast and rough against the passageway wall—but with each swallow of Eva's blood it grows quieter. His Beast loves this, loves _her_. Not the way he loves her—not in a way that leaves room for soft affection and apologies and conversations afterward—but the way a human loves their favorite dessert. Every time his Beast rises angry in his throat after its been denied too long, it wants to devour her. He’s gotten good at bargaining with it, talking to it like an unruly toddler until it understands that hurting Eva would mean it would never get to taste her again. That particular warning usually shuts it up long enough for him to enjoy this.

Eva’s nails dig into the back of his neck and she groans close to his ear. Jasper removes his fangs with a jolt, licking a long stripe up her neck to close the bite and clean the last drops of blood from her skin. Her body sags, spent and happy as her forehead drops down to his shoulder. If she were still human, she’d be breathing hard against him, trying to catch her breath as she shuddered through the lingering ecstasy of the Kiss.

“Hey,” Jasper says, and she lifts her head up just a little. He brushes her long hair out of her eyes. He meets her half-lidded gaze, his own still a little unfocused from the diluted drugs in his veins. “You doing alright?”

She nods again, looking sleepy and human, despite her legs still being wrapped like a vice around his waist.

“I need to hear you say it,” Jasper responds, his mouth pressed against her forehead as a smile creeps unbidden across his face.

“I’m alright,” Eva mumbles, dropping her head back down to his shoulder. She presses lazy kisses to his neck as she adds, “Just tired.”

It’s a normal side effect of the drugs and the Kiss for her, Jasper’s learned. Sometimes coming down from a high—whether it’s from feeding or being fed upon—leaves her feeling languid and sleepy. It’s so very human, he thinks. Over time, Jasper’s learned how to take care of her when she’s like this, too.

“Would blood help?” he asks.

“Yeah.” He feels more than sees her move as she nods against him again.

“Then let’s go find you something to eat.”

Jasper supports her weight as she carefully untangles her legs from around his waist and he lowers her to the ground. Once he’s sure she’s got her feet under her, he runs his fingers through her hair to push it out of her eyes again.

“You want me to carry you?” he asks, only half-joking.

She laughs and pushes up on her toes to press another quick kiss to his lips.

“I think I can walk just fine, thank you.”

Eva’s still a little unsteady, but Jasper lets her decision stand. He simply takes her hand in his and they make their way down the secret tunnel together toward somewhere she can feed in peace. Someone will be willing here—someone always is—or he knows there’s bagged blood stored somewhere upstairs, if she’d prefer that. Eva will not go hungry on a night like this. 

And in the lingering haze of their shared intoxication, Jasper thinks that if it weren’t for the taste of Eva's blood still on his tongue or the glint of her white fangs in the dim light of the passageways, he could almost convince himself that they were just another tipsy couple enjoying a night out at the club. 

v. thigh

Eva feels so warm. She knows it’s only temporary, that blush of life will only last for a little while longer, but for now she is warm and blissed out, lying naked in Jasper’s bed with his body cradled between her thighs and his name on her lips.

He kisses his way up her body as she catches her breath.

“You doing okay?” he asks, pressing a reverent kiss to the center of her chest.

“Could you not hear how ‘okay’ I felt?” she says with a slight laugh, still breathing hard.

There's a hint of pride in Jasper's smile as he absentmindedly licks his fangs.

“You up for one more?” he asks. 

“Are you offering?”

He leaves a trail of kisses down her body as he settles between her legs again.

“I want to try something,” he says, brushing his lips across the curve of her hip bone, “But only if you’re alright with it.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well…” Jasper smiles up at her and licks his fangs again. “I wanna see if I can make you feel good in… more ways than one.”

Eva’s eyes go wide at the implication. It’s not that she hasn’t considered it; in fact, it’s a little fantasy that’s passed through her mind more than once on lonely nights spent in her haven when Jasper’s been away. They’d even discussed it, briefly, when laying out what they were comfortable with during one of their early experiments with blush of life.

“I thought we’d agreed on no biting between the legs,” Eva says, trying to keep her voice light.

The Kiss can be an intense act of intimacy—especially for lovers, especially like this. She’s become accustomed to biting being a normal part of the way they touch each other now, but when they’d initially started exploring the more physical aspects of their relationship, they’d decided feeding during sex might be more than they could handle, at least at first. It wasn’t that Eva wasn’t interested in the idea of it. Jasper even admitted to being curious himself, though his initial hesitancy outweighed his desire, still worried about controlling himself and keeping her safe. But everything was so new then, they both thought it best to take things slowly and keep sex and feeding separate. 

Eva’s fed him in bed before, of course—when he’d woken up hungry after a hectic mission the night before or when blush of life had roused his Beast along with his blood or, more recently, as a shared treat after sex—but never quite like this. This was new and enticing. With so many other bridges already crossed and the possibility of this being offered so freely—his head between her legs and his sharp fangs sinking into her warm flesh as he touched her _and_ —Eva wants whatever he’s willing to try.

But she still hasn’t answered him.

“If-if you don’t want… that—I won’t,” Jasper quickly backpedals, stumbling over his words in a rush to reassure her. Whatever hard-won confidence he’d possessed a moment ago disappears in his haste not to overstep. “I don’t want you to feel obligated just because—if that’s not… something you’re into then—”

“Hey, I didn’t say that,” Eva responds calmly. She knows him so well now, knows he needs encouragement and reassurance, knows it brings out the best in him. It has already taken him so long to be comfortable with her like this, each new step can be a challenge. “I love feeding you, remember? I’m just trying to make sure I have a good idea of what you’re suggesting... Paint me a picture.”

It’s a challenge and an invitation, and his smile slowly returns as he speaks.

“Well… I thought… here might be a good place to bite.” Jasper strokes the pulse point in her thigh with his thumb and it sends a shiver up her spine. “But I wouldn’t bite until you were almost there, until you were right on the edge.” His other hand trails up her other leg, pausing before it gets to where she really wants him.

“I do love your hands,” Eva admits, biting her lip playfully as she watches him, hoping her words will spur him on.

“So you’ve told me… many times.” He grins up at her, that hint of pride creeping back into his voice.

“Eating in bed is a very bad habit, Jasper,” she says, all coy desire and teasing flirtation as she smiles down at him.

“You’ve never complained before,” he replies, his own smile growing to reveal his deadly sharp fangs. “I know this is a bit… different, but if you’ve changed your mind...” Eva knows he’d abandon the idea in a heartbeat if she said no. She just doesn’t actually want to say no. 

He starts to pull his hands away and lean back—half-tease, half-opportunity for escape—but Eva crooks one finger under his chin to make him look at her and he freezes, his only movement the slight rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathes from blush of life.

“I never said that,” she whispers.

“Is that a yes?”

Eva nods, her own fanged smile never faltering. She’s too excited to keep playing coy.

“Yes," she breathes, "Bite me.” 

At that, his hands return to her body and she falls back into the pillows to let him work. 

Jasper lets out a deep, pleased growl as he lowers his head down, kissing her thigh as his hand moves back between her legs. He touches her, slowly working her up to her peak for the third time that night. He leaves her hot and gasping, one of her hands grasping desperately at the dark sheets of his bed while the other goes to the back of his head to hold him in place against her. Eva’s already so close when she feels his teeth graze against her and then Jasper sinks his fangs into her thigh. There is pain for just a moment and then there is bliss, pure unadulterated electric bliss. Her back arches, her hips straining against him, and she all but screams at the sensation of it all.

If her Beast wants to complain over the loss of vitae, she can’t even hear it over her own moans and cries. 

Jasper’s hand moves between her legs as he mouths at her inner thigh. He knows how to touch her now, knows what she likes, knows exactly how to draw out her pleasure before he sinks his fangs in. Her blood is warm and delicious as it wells up between his lips. He can taste her desire, heady and intoxicating against his tongue. Eva wants him, wants _this_ , even more than she can put into words but he can taste it clearly in her vitae. Her cry of pleasure fills their quiet bedroom. She writhes against him before tensing up and he feels the waves of her release as she tumbles over the edge into ecstasy, tastes the euphoria in her blood as he takes her there.

Jasper eases her through it, taking slow, careful sips of her blood before he finally pulls away. It isn’t enough to quell much of his hunger, but this moment is about the Kiss itself more than the actual feeding. He licks the puncture wound closed as Eva catches her breath. She watches as his tongue catches the blood from the corner of his mouth before he licks his fingers clean as well.

Eva loves the sight of him like this.

She lies there, sprawled out before him, her heartbeat finally slowing back to normal as he presses a kiss to her other thigh, then to her hip, then her abdomen, then a little higher. One of her hands reaches down to scratch at the back of his neck in a wordless reward and he lets out a gravelly purr against her.

“Happy?” Jasper asks.

“Mmhmm,” Eva hums her approval, “Very. You did so well.”

And she _is_ happy. And sleepy and satisfied and so blissed out from the mingling pleasures of his hands and fangs that she doesn’t even notice the glint of mischief in his eyes when the idea strikes him. Without warning, Jasper presses his open mouth to her still warm skin and blows a raspberry against her belly button.

It’s ridiculous and childish and so endearingly playful that it sets Eva off into a fit of unrestrained laughter, even as she tries to push him away.

“Jasper!” she cries out between giggles, shoving at his head as his clever hands move to her sides in an attempt to tickle her, “Stop it!”

Eva’s voice is high and light without even a hint of the stern anger Jasper knows she can muster when she’s genuinely upset, but still all it takes is the word “stop” for him to pull away. He’s still smiling though, his body cradled between her legs and his hands resting on her thighs. That image is quickly becoming one of her favorites.

“Now come up here and kiss me,” Eva demands, grinning widely.

Jasper is more than happy to follow her latest request, crawling up the bed to press his lips to hers. She can still taste the faint hint of her own blood on his tongue.

“Mine,” she whispers sweetly between kisses, “All mine.”

“All yours,” he answers, pressing her down into the mattress to kiss her again, “Always.”

They move together, their actions slow and unhurried as their bodies start to grow cold again. There is no need to rush in this shared space. The war and the violence can’t reach them here, not tonight. For once there is time and tentative peace, and they will enjoy it for as long as it is theirs to enjoy. They kiss and laugh with wandering hands for minutes or hours or blissful stolen centuries and in the soft glow of the bedside lamp, they are content.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I was pretty nervous about that final scene—I've never really written anything that risque before, so please be kind and let me know if the rating should be bumped up—but I think it all turned out alright. As we all wait eagerly for the premiere of season four later this month, kudos and comments are always very much appreciated!


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